I grew up on the edge of the cedar creek glade complex in Hardin Co, Kentucky and spent my childhood in the country roaming the fields and forests. I instinctively knew as a small child many plants I could eat in the wild and my favorite thing to do to follow my brother and his friends around the wild lands and pick bouquets of wild flowers for my mom.
I have been a natural heritage botanist/plant ecologist with Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission (now called the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves) since 2006 and the Kentucky Plant Conservation Program Manager since 2014.
I have also conducted floristic inventories as a biological consultant, mostly for Copperhead Consulting, with the majority of projects conducted in the Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee (2007-2014).
I have a BS in Biochemistry from University of Louisville and a MS in Forest Ecology from the University of Kentucky. My work involves rare species surveys (state and federally listed plants primarily), general floristic inventories, protection of natural areas, GIS analysis, conservation planning and rare plant/community management.
I am also currently the president of the Kentucky Native Plant Society where I focus on organizing the annual Kentucky Botanical Symposium, teaching native plant stewardship and plant identification workshops, education and outreach, and guided hikes.
I am particularly interested in plant distributions and taxonomy, seed collecting, cartography, learning new flora and fauna, exploring natural areas, paleo botany/ecology, the chemistry of plants. caterpillars, lichens and mushrooms. I live in my family forest in Anderson County with my husband and two children.
